Sidelined
by Jayne Leigh
Summary: Studio 60. How Matt and Danny left studio 60 4 years ago. Please read and review!


**Hey, just a one-parter! Just my ideas on how Matt and Danny left the show 4 years ago! Probably wrong but oh well! Please review!! **

**Enjoy!! **

**Sidelined **

Matt stared at the board for what seemed like hours, hoping that Wes Mendell would come out any minute and tell them that he accidentally put the wrong sketches up. Matt had been doing this for the last 4 weeks. He's been here for 5 years and for 3 of them he was one of the best writers on the team. Now he was being sidelined because Jack Rudolph was too scared to put them on the air. He cared too much about what people thought rather than whether or not they were funny.

"Matt, the show's on in 20 minutes." Danny walked down the corridor. "You coming to watch?"

"No point." Matt mumbled.

Danny sighed and stopped when he reached Matt. "It'll blow over."

"I'm paid to be funny, Danny." Matt tore his eyes away from the board to look at his friend. "The sketch was funny! Why won't they just let me do my job?!"

"Don't worry about it." Danny told him. "Let just watch the show and talk about it again on Monday."

"Danny..."

"We'll sort it out on Monday." Danny cut in, starting to push him down the corridor.

"Matt."

They stopped and turned at the sound of Wes voice.

"I need to talk to you." He told him. "Now."

Matt looked at Danny before walking back down the corridor towards Wes' office.

"Shut the door and take a seat." Wes told him as he sat down in his own chair behind the desk.

Matt did as he told, silently sitting down waiting for Wes to start.

"Another week without a sketch..." Wes started.

"It was funny!" Matt claimed. "It killed at the dress!"

"Jack Rudolph thinks..."

"Screw Jack Rudolph!" Matt raised his voice. "Who cares what he thinks?"

"He's the chairman of the network."

Matt took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. "I've been writing funny sketches!"

"They're the wrong kind of sketches at the moment, Matt." Wes sighed. "With everything that is going on, couldn't you try and think of something else?"

"Whatever I write, Jack will tell you not to put it on the air because I wrote it!" Matt stood up. "He doesn't care about the jokes I write or what they're about. He doesn't even care if they're funny or not!!"

"Matt..."

"He's pissed at me for disagreeing with him!" Matt stated. "That's why I haven't had a sketch on for 4 weeks!"

"Look, just keep your head down and stay out of trouble and things will get better." Wes told him.

"And if I don't?"

"I'm not going to answer that for you, Matt." He replied. "You're one of my best writers, I don't want to lose you."

Matt stared at him for a moment, not believing what he was implying.

"Go out and watch the show...have fun at the wrap party tonight and have a good weekend...everything will look better on Monday morning."

"Yes, sir." Matt mumbled standing up and heading for the door. He ran straight into Danny who was trying to listen at the door.

"Hey, what did he say?" Danny asked, following Matt as he walked down the corridor.

"I need a drink." Matt replied, walking faster.

"Matt!"

"You didn't hear?"

"I heard you telling him to screw Jack Rudolph..." Danny told him. "Now, I know you're pretty angry at the moment but you shouldn't wish screwing Jack Rudolph on anyone."

"Danny..." Matt sighed, not in the mood.

"What else did Wes say to you?"

"Just that I should keep my head down and stay out of trouble."

"Maybe that's a good idea."

"So, you think I should do nothing?" Matt stopped walking and looked at him. "I should just do as I'm told! Forget everything that I think and I believe in."

"I didn't say that, Matt..."

Matt turned and hit out at the wall, in anger a few times. Danny stood silently, waiting for him to finish, knowing he was just venting out his frustration.

"Wes basically told me if I don't do as I'm told then I'm out of here."

"What?" Danny frowned. "No, that's crazy."

"Yeah, well Jack Rudolph he's behind this all." Matt started to walk again.

"Don't worry, Matt... Wes won't get rid of you because of a few sketches that caused a stir."

"Wouldn't he?"

"Of course not!" Danny insisted. "But... but we'll stick together, okay. It'll be fine."

"You do realise that by doing that I could bring you down with me?"

"You're not going down." Danny assured him. "Besides, you're my best friend, I will always stand by you."

"I don't want to take you down, Danny. Not now that you've managed to sort yourself out."

"You're forgetting that I managed to sort my life out because you were there to help me." Danny replied. "But I don't know why we're even talking about this, it's not going to come to it."

Matt sighed. "I'm going to try and get some writing done."

"It's 15 minutes before the show starts, can't it wait till Monday? Relax."

"I can't relax." He told him. "You'd better get to the stage..."

"Matt." Danny called after him but he had already disappeared down the corridor.

Danny waited outside Wes' office for him to come out. He looked at his watch to see there was 10 minutes till airtime.

"Danny..." Wes said, as they walked out. "We got a good show tonight."

"Yes, sir it is good." Danny agreed. "Would have been even better with the Bush Sketch."

Wes gave Danny a look. "I know you're his friend but I've been through this with him already, it is not the right time."

"Come on, Wes... face it, that sketch is ten times better then any of those other ones." Danny claimed. "So are all the other sketches that Matt's put forward the past month!"

"Danny, I'm not discussing this with you, now."

"He's got it into his head he's going to get fired." Danny told him. "He's down in the writers room, working on something right now."

"Well, I suggest that you go down there and remind him what kind of sketches we're looking for."

"What sketches are they, Wes?" Danny asked. "Because I have to admit, I'm a little confused myself. He writes a sketch about the president and that's wrong. He writes a sketch about religion, a crazy judge, an over excited teacher... all of them and more rejected."

"Both of you are smart enough to know what's going on." Wes replied. "Jack wants Matt out of here... the only thing that's stopping him is because it's personal. He's just waiting for Matt to give him a reason. I'm fighting for him, Danny but he's not helping himself."

"He isn't doing anything wrong!" Danny insisted. "These kind of sketches are what Matt's always wrote. No one had a problem with it before."

"Danny, there's 5 minutes until the show. I'm not dealing with this now." Wes told him, before walking off.

Danny had to go down to the stage too, deciding that he'd talk to Matt after the show. He knew that he shouldn't have to but if it meant him keeping his job then that's what counts.

As soon as the show was off the air, Danny went to the writers' room, not surprised to see Matt sitting alone in front of his laptop.

"Did you watch the show?" He asked.

"I caught a bit of it." Matt replied, not looking up.

"How's the writing coming?"

"I'm almost done with a sketch to pitch to Wes."

"You're going to do it tonight?"

"Well, yes… if he doesn't like it then there's no point in me coming back on Monday." Matt replied.

"You're not serious..."

"Danny, I can't stand being here any more." He looked up. "I'm a co-exec, I've been the main writer for the past 3 years now all of a sudden I've been benched."

"Matt..."

"I've got Jack Rudolph breathing down my neck every 5 minutes... I've got Wes trying to make excuses as to why none of my sketches make it... I've got Ricky making comments to the press about me!" He answered. "Maybe I should just do what everyone wants me to and walk out now!!"

"Matt, don't just give in..." Danny told him. "Okay, so you're going through a rough patch but it will go away... besides, not everyone wants you to go... what about me and the cast, Simon, Jeannie...and Harriet."

Matt groaned and rubbed his eyes at the mention of her name.

"What?" Danny asked, seeing his reaction.

"Nothing."

"Matt, what's happened between you and Harriet now?"

"I asked her out."

"What? Really?" Danny asked. "Well, it's about time... it's taken you 3 years!"

"She said no."

"Oh..."

"Apparently she's dating Luke Scott..."

"I hate that guy." Danny said.

"Yeah, me too."

_XxXxX_

"Hey, guys great show tonight." Simon said as Danny and Matt walked towards him.

"Is everything okay?" Harriet asked concerned when neither of them bothered to stop or to acknowledge them. "Matthew? Danny?"

"What was all that about?" Simon questioned as they walked into Wes' office without knocking.

"I don't know but I don't think it's a good sign." Harriet replied.

"Guys, I told you both earlier...go to the wrap party, we'll talk about this more on Monday morning." Wes said when they walked in, predicting what they were there for.

"Read this." Matt handed him the sketch he had just written.

"What is it?" Wes asked. "You're pitching me a sketch now?"

"Just read it and we can get out of here." Danny said.

Wes sighed and began to read, once he was done he handed it back to Matt.

"It's good."

"You'll put it on the show next week?"

"Matt, you know I can't..."

"Why not?!" Matt asked. "You just said yourself, it's good!"

"It's called Crazy Christians. The network will take one look at the title and ban us from doing it."

"So, that's it. You're not going to even try?"

"Matt, come on..." Danny spoke for the first time.

"I'll see you boys on Monday." Wes said.

"No, you won't..." Danny turned to him as they reached the door. "That was the last time... he's had enough... I've had enough."

"Danny, come on don't be crazy!"

"The show wasn't even that funny tonight, Wes." Danny pointed out. "Over the last couple of months, the ratings have gone down and nothing has been done about getting them back up again."

"Sometimes ratings just drops... but they'll soon go back to how they were..."

"Well, they're going have to go back on their own because we don't want to be a part of this show any more."

"Guys..." They had already left before he had a chance to finish, but a few seconds later, Matt returned.

"I understand... you're trying to do what's best for the show." He said quietly. "But I can't carry on working here, not when it's like this. So maybe it's a good thing that I'm leaving. You can get on with putting on the show that the network wants."

"I'm sorry, Matt..." Wes said. "I never wanted it to turn out like this."

Matt nodded slightly in reply.

"Good luck." Wes added.

"You too." Matt replied before leaving again.

"Drink?" Danny asked when Matt joined him again.

"Oh yes, a lot of them to be exact." Matt replied.

"You guys heading to the wrap party?" Harriet asked them when they walked by her and Simon again.

"I don't think that's a good idea." Danny told her.

"Why?" Simon asked.

"Cos we don't work here any more."

"What?"

"We just quit." Matt added. "We'll see you around."

Simon and Harriet couldn't say or do anything as they watched them leave, both knowing that they were serious.

**The End**

**Please review and let me know what you think!! **


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